Chua murder conviction upheld by Georgia Supreme Court

BRUNSWICK — The Georgia Supreme Court unanimously affirmed the felony murder conviction of former St. Marys doctor Noel Chua in the fatal overdose his patient and housemate in 2005.

The justices upheld Chua's precedent-setting conviction and life prison sentence for killing 19-year-old Jamie Carter III by providing him with potent prescription painkillers on Dec. 15, 2005.

The court also affirmed Chua's five convictions for illegally giving Carter prescriptions for morphine, oxycodone, methadone, OxyContin and Percocet, among other narcotics prescribed in the three months up until his death on a bathroom floor in Chua's home.

Chua wrote the drugs for Carter in a manner "that was not for a legitimate purpose," and was outside the course of professional practice, Justice P. Harris Hines wrote in the court's 25-page opinion.

The decision, like the conviction and sentence , is the first of its kind in Georgia.

Other physicians in Georgia have been charged with civil medical malpractice or neglect in such cases, but Chua has the unique distinction of a criminal murder conviction and sentence for prescribing medicine to a patient who died.

The evidence showed beyond a reasonable doubt that Chua had a personal relationship with Carter and knew of his addiction to painkillers. In spite of that, Chua provided Carter with drugs that the doctor knew would be dangerous to him, Hines said.

"Under the facts of this case, his [Chua's] felonies of illegally providing controlled substances through prescriptions were dangerous felonies," Hines wrote.

Therefore, Carter's death was a "foreseeable result" as described by Georgia's felony murder law, Hines said.

Carter's family members were relieved and gratified by the court's decision.

"We had faith in the criminal justice system and again we feel that justice has been served for Jamie," his stepmother, Johnna Carter , told the Times-Union.

Jamie's death, she said, destroyed two families.

"We lost a child, brother, grandson, friend ... and that is something that we deal with on a daily basis. Our lives have been forever changed," Carter said.

As they grieve, the family relies on their faith for solace, she said.

"Our family will never have the opportunity to see Jamie complete college and begin a career or go on in life to marry and have a family," his stepmother said. "But thank God we do have the assurance that we will see Jamie again one day, and we are looking forward to that day.

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